COOKBOOKS GALORE

 The usual few bananas left going brown, but wanted a different loaf to make. This recipe comes from ´The Baker’s Daughter’ by Louise Johncox, a recipe book which also tells stories about the family bakery. Preheat oven 180C/gas4. Grease and line a 900g loaf tin. You need: 100g dark chocolate, 110g margarine, 125g caster sugar, 2 beaten eggs, 125g sr flour, 11/2tbspn cocoa, 1 level tspn baking powder and 2 medium bananas mashed, chocolate to melt for the top (opt) Melt chocolate in microwave or in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, Cream margarine and sugar. Add beaten eggs gradually. Sift flour, cocoa and baking powder together and add to the mixture. Beat together with a wooden spoon. Pour into the tin and bake for 40-50mins. Let cake cool in the tin for 10 mins then turn onto a wire rack. I’ve melted milk chocolate and swirled it over the top.  It’s a very moist cake and really delicious. 

I've been told that today is a special day for Chocolate. I don't need an excuse to make anything using it , (or eating it!) so made these little tartlets. The recipe is from a French book simply called 'Les Tartes'. The recipe makes 8 tartlets. 250g  shortcrust pastry [your own or bought] 175g dark chocolate, broken into pieces 2-3 tbspn water 1 tbspn butter - softened 1 tbspn cognac or cointreau [opt!] 3 eggs, separated chocolate shavings or grated chocolate to decorate Preheat oven 200C/gas6 Roll out the pastry and line eight 10cm tartlet moulds. Then put them in the fridge for about 15 mins.  Line them with parchment and fill with beans and bake them 15mins; take out the beans and paper and cook them for another 5 mins; leave to cool. Melt the chocolate over a bowl of hot water or in the microwave and leave to cool. Add the butter and mix till it's melted then add the egg yolks. Now's the time to pour in the cognac or Cointreau. Mix it all together. Beat the...

 I  had some of the family yesterday, and as my daughter is a chocoholic, I thought I'd make these. The recipe has been adapted from a French cookery book that my penfriend gave me years ago, but which has languished at the back of the shelf. The book has some other great tarts to try, so will be posting more recipes. It's called simply 'Les tartes' but I can't find an author. The recipe makes 8 tartlets. 250g  shortcrust pastry [your own or bought], 175g dark chocolate, broken into pieces, 2-3 tbspn water,1 tbspn butter - softened,1 tbspn cognac or cointreau [opt!], 3 eggs, separated,  chocolate shavings or grated chocolate to decorate Preheat oven 200C/gas6  Tartlet tin or 8 tartlet moulds Roll out the pastry and line 8 moulds. (I bought a lovely 12 hole tartlet tin from Lakeland)  Put in the fridge for about 15 mins.  Line them with parchment and fill with beans and bake them blind for15mins; take out the beans and...

  One of my favourite French desserts is a Charlotte, and I had a tin of pears which needed using and a recipe from a French neighbour for making a chocolate and pear one. It doesn't need cooking, just chilling. I bought a Charlotte mould when living there, but you can use any deep cake tin. It's simple to make and delicious. Charlottes can also be made with bread. You need: a large packet of boudoir biscuits [sponge fingers] or make your own  200ml whipping cream a sachet of vanilla sugar [about 1 tbspn] large tin of pears in syrup 150g dark chocolate 4 egg yolks Open can of pears and pour syrup into a small bowl and slice the pears. Dip the boudoir biscuits into the syrup and line a Charlotte mould with them, keeping some back for the top. Using an electric hand beater, beat the cream and vanilla sugar together till it's thick. Melt the chocolate over a low heat. Turn the heat off and add the egg yolks, beating together till the mixture cools. Add the cream and mix togeth...

 This is one of our family favourites and is so easy to make.  It's  lovely mixture of chocolate, mascarpone with a hint of coffee, all in a pastry case. Doesn't need much cooking - just the pastry case. You need: a pack of shortcrust pastry [or of course make your own] 200g dark chocolate 250g mascarpone 1 dspn instant Espresso coffee 3 egg whites pinch salt 80g caster sugar chocolate shavings to decorate [opt] Preheat oven 180C/gas4                     Grease a 21cm tart tin/dish Roll pastry out to fit the tin, prick with a fork and bake blind for 10 mins. Break chocolate up and put into a pan; sprinkle a little water over and melt on a low heat. Once it's melted, take off the heat and add half the mascarpone and 1 dspn of instant Espresso coffee powder and mix well. Take the pastry out of the oven, cool then add the chocolate mixture. Put in fridge for an hour. Whisk the egg whites to peaks with the salt then add the re...

  My daughter loves dark chocolate and raspberries, and as she was coming up for the weekend for Mothering Sunday,  I found this recipe in my scrapbook which was perfect for her. Raspberries seem to be available fresh all year round now. I do try and buy seasonally, but this cake is so good! For the cake you need:  250g dark chocolate (70% cocoa) 200g butter 1 tspn instant coffee, dissolved in 1 tbspn hot water 5 eggs 100g caster sugar 75g plain flour 100g raspberries  Preheat oven 170C/gas3                    Grease and line a 20cm springform tin In a saucepan, put the chocolate, butter and coffee and heat over a low heat till melted and glossy. In  a bowl beat the eggs and sugar till pale and fluffy.   Pour in the chocolate mixture, add the flour and fold together gently. Pour this batter into the tin and sprinkle the raspberries over the top. Bake for about 40 mins till the cake is firm. This cake is...

 We all need a treat in these strange times, and these brownies fit the bill. No guessing that the recipe's from the US originally, handed to me by a neighbour when we were living in Chicago. They are very calorific, so no good if you're watching you weight! For the brownie mixture you need: 170g butter, 330g caster sugar, 3 eggs, good pinch of salt, 110g dark chocolate, 45g cocoa and 125g flour For the peanut mixture you need: 50g butter, 60g caster sugar and 250g smooth peanut butter Preheat oven 180C/gas4                           Grease and line a brownie tin [one I used is 28 x 18 cm] Brownie mixture - melt the butter and chocolate in the microwave or over simmering water in a bowl. Add the sugar, salt, beaten eggs and beat together till well mixed. Peanut mixture - melt the butter. Using an electric hand beater, beat the melted butter, peanut butter and sugar together till smooth. Spoon alternate tbspn of b...

A Happy New Year! Bonne Année!  I can't let Epiphany pass without a Galette, and I think we all need something sweet to keep us going in these difficult times.  I asked my French friend for ideas for something different and she sent me this recipe. I found the ground hazelnuts in Waitrose, or you could grind your own. So you need: 2 sheets of butter puff pastry, 125g ground hazelnuts, 100g dark chocolate, 100ml single cream, 1 egg, 75g caster sugar, 50g melted butter, 1 tspn vanilla extract and 1 egg yolk Preheat oven 200C/gas6                       Baking sheet Break the chocolate into pieces and melt in the microwave or over a pan of simmering water. Beat the egg with the sugar till fluffy. Add the melted chocolate and mix well. Add the hazelnuts and vanilla extract and stir together. Roll out the first sheet of puff pastry and cut out a circle using a large dinner plate or something similar. Place on the baking she...

There's nothing like chocolate for cheering a day up. I was given a large bar for Easter, so wanted to stretch it out by using it in a cake. I love loaf cakes, and this is one of my favourites. It uses courgettes as well as chocolate, and I just happened to have one medium sized one that needed using up. It also uses soft brown sugar, a bonus as I've no more caster sugar! You need: 2 eggs, 80ml honey, 120ml sunflower oil, 100g soft light brown sugar, 2 tspn vanilla exctract, 1/2 tspn baking powder and 1/2 tspn bicarb, 1 heaped tspn coffee granules, 45g cocoa powder, 210g plain flour, 2 small courgettes or 1 medium grated, and 200g dark chocolate cut into chunks and divided into  2 x100g portions Preheat oven 170C/gas4           Grease and line a 200g loaf tin Whisk together the eggs, honey, oil, sugar and vanilla. Sift together in another bowl the flour, bicarb, baking powder, coffee and cocoa: mix together then gently add to the egg mixture. Fol...

I always try and make a galette in January. You can find them in all the pastry shops and supermarkets in France, as they're made to celebrate the arrival of the Kings on January 6th. Have sadly lost all my little fèves that I collected [the little china figures that go into the galette des rois]. Whoever finds the fève is king or queen for the day and gets a crown! Decided to make it a bit different this year and added chocolate to the frangipane. It's so useful to have the puff pastry ready cut out into a circle, as in France, but a large dinner plate used to cut round to make the circle is fine. You need: 2 packs of butter puff pastry, 200g dark chocolate, 125g ground almonds, 125g caster sugar, 125g soft butter, 25g plain flour, 3 eggs and 1 yolk, and 1/2 tspn almond extract Preheat oven 200C                             A baking sheet Beat the eggs and sugar together till light and fluffy. Add the alm...

The small 'fondants au chocolat' were the puddings which caused the most problem when I used to watch Masterchef! My French friends recently came to visit, and knowing how I love to try new things, she brought me her recipe for a large cake version. The biggest problem was choosing the right tin, as G had used a French one and I wasn't sure which one of mine to use. In the end, I used a tin I use to make quiches, 22cm. It has a loose base which was very useful. The recipe:  100g chocolate [my friend used cooking chocolate in her recipe. but I used supermarket's own dark]  75g softish butter  3 eggs  100g caster sugar  40g plain flour  1 tspn baking powder Oven 180C                        Grease and flour a 20/22cm tin Break up chocolate and cut butter into pieces. Melt over a pan of simmering water, or in the microwave. Mix together. In another bowl beat eggs and sugar till white and...

These came about because I found a jar of my favourite Biscoff spread in Sainsbury's. I've since noticed that Lidl sell the same kind of spread called Spiced Biscuit spread. I expect most of the supermarkets now have their own versions. I bought a new tartlet tin so wanted to try it out, and chocolate and spice seemed to go well together. I was very lazy and bought a pack of shortcrust pastry, but of course you can make your own from your favourite recipe, or even buy ready made tartlet shells, so then you'd have no cooking at all! You need; 1 pack ready shortcrust pastry, 100g dark chocolate, 3 tbspn spiced biscuit spread, 100ml single cream, 60g butter and a few crumbled Biscoff biscuits [or supermarket equivalent] to sprinkle on top. Preheat oven 200C                    Grease a tartlet tin. Roll pastry out on a floured surface and cut out discs using a 71/2 cm /3" cutter. Line the tin with these then bake for 20 mins. Take ou...

My daughter loves dark chocolate and raspberries, and as she was coming up for the weekend, I found this recipe in my scrapbook which was perfect for her. I know raspberries aren't in season, and I know you could use frozen ones, but I found some at a reasonable price in my local market. For the cake you need:  250g dark chocolate (70% cocoa) 200g butter 1 tspn instant coffee, dissolved in 1 tbspn hot water 5 eggs 100g caster sugar 75g plain flour 100g raspberries  Preheat oven 170C/gas3                    Grease and line a 20cm springform tin In a saucepan, put the chocolate, butter and coffee and heat over a low heat till melted and glossy. In  a bowl beat the eggs till pale and fluffy.  Pour in the chocolate mixture, add the flour and fold together gently. Pour this batter into the tin and sprinkle the raspberries over the top. Bake for about 40 mins till the cake is firm. This cake is good with a ...

Thought I'd post something sumptuous for Valentine's Day. I'm cheating a bit because my daughter made this, with a little help from me. It's a lovely dessert with a meringue base, delicious chocolate cream layer, more meringue, then topped with a good layer of grated chocolate. You could buy 2 large meringue discs to save making them. This is a recipe from my French friend, and she says it originates in the North of France. Meringues:  2 egg whites, 60g caster sugar and 60g icing sugar Ganache:     150g dark chocolate, 150ml single cream Topping:      100g grated dark chocolate It's best to make the meringues the day before, but it's up to you! Heat oven 160C/gas3              Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone sheets Beat egg whites till stiff and add half of the 2 sugars. Whisk again then add the other half and whisk till shiny. Put into a piping bag and pipe into 2 large discs onto ...

Have been having a good clear out of kitchen cupboards, including my baking one. Lurking at the back was yet another tin of Carnation Caramel, so had to use it up. Have made this cake many times, but all the family love it. It's easy to make and uses oil, so healthy of course! 75g sr flour, 3 tbspn cocoa, 1 tspn bicarb, 150g caster sugar, 2 eggs, 150ml sunflower oil, 150ml milk, 2 tspn vanilla extract, 125g dark chocolate, 375g tin of Carnation Caramel , 1 tspn icing sugar and extra for the top of the cake PREHEAT OVEN 180C/GAS4                 Grease and line 2x18cm sandwich tins Sift the flour, cocoa and bicarb into a bowl. Stir in the sugar. Stir oil and milk together then add the eggs, 1 tspn of the vanilla and beat together. Add this to the dry mixture and beat together. Beat 2 tbspn of the caramel till smooth, then whisk into the batter. It's a wet mixture! Pour into the 2 tins and bake for about 20-25 mins till springy. ...

I found hazelnuts on offer in my local deli, so decided to use them in a loaf cake. I love loaf cakes as they seem to keep longer than other cakes, and are so easy to cut. For this one you need: 120g hazelnuts, 60g soft butter, 70g light brown sugar, 1 tspn vanilla extract, 1 egg, 225g flour and 2 tspn baking powder, 1/2 tspn cinnamon, pinch of salt, 80g of dark chocolate, chopped, 80ml Nutella or similar spread and 250ml of buttermilk Preheat oven 180C                    Grease and base line a 900g loaf tin Spread hazelnuts over a baking tray and put in oven for 8-10 mins till golden. Put into a clean tea towel to rub off skins. Chop roughly. Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla together with an electric mixer till light and creamy. Add the egg and buttermilk and beat again. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together then add to the batter. Fold in, then add the chocolate and 80g of the chopped hazelnuts. Mix we...

I made this recently as my contribution to a 'get together' lunch. It used up a bar of chocolate I would probably have eaten! It's a recipe I've made many times and is adapted from an old American baking book I picked up on one of my visits. Have mentioned it on here before - 'Favorite Cakes and Tarts my Mom made'. For the dough you need - 114g cold butter cut into pieces, 150g caster sugar, 1 large egg and 1 egg white, 300g plain flour, 40g cocoa and 1 tspn baking powder For the filling - 250g dark chocolate, chopped [not more than 60%], 90g cubed butter, 2 large beaten eggs, 85ml double cream, 50g caster sugar and 1 tspn vanilla extract Preheat oven 190C/Gas5                         20cm tart tin Cream butter and sugar together till soft. Beat in the egg and egg white. Sieve the flour, cocoa and baking powder together then add to the mixture and fold in. Bring together into a disc, wrap in cling film and put in f...

Although my mother was a great baker, she occasionally brought home one of McVitie's Tunis cakes near Christmas time. Do you remember these cakes? Well I was feeling all nostalgic and thought I'd try and make one. Not as elaborate as the original, as that looks too tricky for my icing skills! Mary Berry has a recipe, but I found another one, which was apparently sent by McVitie to a fan of the cake, so I thought I'd give it a try. It's in ounces. 3oz ground almonds 6oz butter 6oz caster sugar 3 medium eggs rind of 1 lemon 8oz plain flour 11/2 tspn baking powder 2 tbspn milk For the topping: 10oz plain chocolate Marzipan fruits [banana, orange, pear, apple] Preheat oven 160C/gas3                                        8" cake tin brushed with melted fat and lined with                            ...

I think I've mentioned before that I much prefer muffins to cupcakes - I find the icing on cupcakes just too much. We have a lovely shop in town which sells a great range of herbs and spices, particularly difficult to find ones. In France I did a day's cookery course in a local restaurant, and one of the ingredients we used was Tonka beans. If you want to find out more about them: http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/how-to-cook/how-to-cook-with-tonka-beans I'd never heard of them, so was interested to taste their flavour. It's hard to describe - a bit similar to vanilla, but with fruity and spicy elements! You only use a little, as they can be harmful in large quantities, so it's claimed. I bought 3 beans from my local shop. I'm explaining all this, because my lovely friend who owns the tea shop, gave me her recipe for chocolate muffins with Tonka bean. The recipe! 200g sr flour, 1 tspn baking powder, 150g white chocolate, 12 small squares of dark choco...

I like brownies, and my friend gave me this recipe which is a bit different from your usual one. It has cream cheese added to the batter. Preheat oven 180C/gas4               Grease and line a 18x24cm tin Put 125g butter, 125g dark chocolate and 200g light brown sugar in a pan; stir over medium heat till melted. Take pan off the heat and beat in 3 eggs. Add 50g sr flour, 50g cocoa and stir into the mixture. Pour into the tin. Beat 200g cream cheese [use full fat not low fat] with 50g icing sugar till smooth. Spoon into the batter then swirl with the tip of a knife to get a marbled effect. Bake the brownies for 35-40 mins. I liked these - you get the taste of the traditional brownie with the added texture of a cheesecake. They mix together well. Do I prefer it to the normal brownie - no, I don't think so, but it makes a change! I thought cooking them for so long would make them hard, but the crumb was moist.